From One of Germany's Greatest Pinot Noir Vineyards - This Wine Just Hit Its Peak - An Iconic Grand Cru Pinot Noir

 2013 Josef Walter Spatburgunder Centgrafenberg "J"
 - Showed up in the Sample Pack
 - Stunning Stunning Wine That Just Blew Me Away
 - Nose: So Detailed and Vivid
 - Sick Violets
 - Expansive, Vivid and Clean
 - Unreal Spice, Insane Breadth
 - Enormously Complex
 - Palate: Unreal Purity, Elegance, Sweetness and Depth
 - Incredible Texture
 - Terrific Purity
 - Concentrated, Sappy and Structured
 - Best Walter non-Hundsruck Spätburgunder I've Ever Had

2019 Josef Walter Riesling Centgrafenberg
- 2019: the Best Dry White Vintage in Franken I've Ever Tasted
- Something about Riesling from Centgrafenberg That is Just So Teutonic
- So Precise and Correct Yet Shimmering
- Nose: Deep, subtle and Elegant
- So Complex
- Perfect Balance of Minerals, Confectionary Aromas and Fruit
- Palate: Deep, Incisive, Complex
- Savory, Sour, Sweet and Deep
- Dense and So Elegant

 - Intense Sweet Minerals Cling

This last batch of samples Christophe Walter sent me he said pay special attention to the 2013 Josef Walter Spatburgunder Centgrafenberg "J", as he said it was really drinking well now. And my man does not lie. So good it's getting its own offer! Walter wines either drink really well super young, at some sort of intermediate time that is completely unpredictable or when mature. Only one Walter Pinot I've ever sold is mature and it's not even a true Pinot, it's a Frühburgunder from 2005! Otherwise all the other Walter wines I've sold are closed or possibly open in the intermediate phase. There is no in between I find. But I happened to luck upon the intermediate phase of the 2013 Spätburgunder Centgrafenberg J and it was one of the most profound Walters imaginable. Stunning stunning wine that just blew me away.

 

If 2015 didn't exist people would be waxing poetic about 2013 as the best Spätburgunder vintage. I adore 13 and in Franken it is arguably the best region in Germany with Baden being a close 2nd. The 2013s at Fürst are just incredible. He is just up the road and they both use the same vineyards, so of course Walter is going to hit it out of the park and boy did he. 

Okay, here we go! 13 is amazing in Burgstadt for Pinot. 

Gorgeous nose. The nose is a spectrum. There is so much and its so fragrant and so detailed and so vivid and so so delicate. It's the Pinot Noir experience from a top vineyard that nothing else can reproduce. A True wow. Stunning violets. Just  sick violets. So expansive, vivid and clean. Unreal spice and has insane breadth. Mulch, sour and red cherries. Huge mint and menthol. Enormously complex. Tree bark, wood shavings, gorgeous minerality and earth. A divine perfume. Just so good. Not sure when I had this last but wow has it improved. Wow. This is some nose. Endless and expansive. 9.5 Nose. A true wow nose. After air is just gets better. Citrus peel, decaying yet fresh leaves. Fresh decaying leaves? Mid season cherries that are cracking. Huge cherry perfume. Wow. 

What purity, elegance sweetness and depth on the palate. A true knockout. So balanced and deep. Complex, juicy and ethereal. Incredible texture and just barely there sweetness and terrific purity. So complex and complete. An amalgam of early and mid season cherries. So juicy. So long. Energetic and mineral. Just a stunner. Such presence and incredibly ripe yet stony tannins. So so so long. This is so so good. Superb structure. Sappy. Concentrated, sappy and structured. Grand Cru all the way. Amazing wine. Gorgeous purity, velvety tannins and freshness. Crunchy and transparent. So so good.  This is the best non Hundsruck Spätburgunder I've ever had from Walter. It's so sensual and sweet while being seductive, mineral and complex. A staggering bottle. 

Up next I have a wine that blew me away and is new at the Walter estate. It's an Ortsweine Riesling. This is the same quality level as Battenfeld Spanier Mölsheim, Weltner Kuchenmeister and Kuhling-Gillot Nierstein. It's a 1er Cru Riesling. The 2019 Josef Walter Riesling Centgrafenberg can be had for

$28.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. Run and get this wine. Buy a case. First of all the wine is brilliant  beyond words and 2nd of all you all will not believe how insane 2019 is. I haven't really had 2019 in context like I had when I tasted this wine. I tasted the 17 and 18 versions of this wine right next to it and while those were very good wines (9.2/9.3 Delectable) the 2019 just blew them away. It's a 9.5 for me. There's a certain something about Riesling from the Centgrafenberg that is just so Teutonic. Angles, precision and straight lines. Shimmering. The clarity of this wine combined with the precise quality of Centgrafenberg Riesling is always special but this wine brings it into focus in a way you only get in the best vintages. In Franken 2019 has to be the best dry white vintage I've ever tasted. The purity, the breadth and the depth are unparalleled in my 15+ years of tasting Franken whites.  This reminds me of Rudolf Furst's version which would be $55+ in the United States if his wines were still sold here. 

Gorgeous nose. Complex. Perfect balance of minerals, confectionary aromas and fruit. Awesome depth and purity. Like a Riesling gumdrop. Superb minerals and an herbal aroma. Deep, subtle and elegant nose. Wow. 

What a palate. Deep, incisive, complex and so pure. Just insane purity. So clean. So balanced. This is really great. Wow, 19 is legit. Savory, sour, sweet and deep. It has it all and all is in harmony. Palate is dense and so elegant with aggressive minerality. So pure. So sappy and deep. Clean and balanced. Just super impressive. After 2-3 hours open is when the 2019 part really shines.  That's when it gains depth, breadth and has that intense sweet minerals cling and depth that only Centgrafenberg Riesling can bring. I won't sell another Riesling this great for $25.99. Without tariffs this is a $20 wine!! I can think of some 2001 German Spatlese that was on this level. Like the 2001 Max Ferdinand Richter Juffer Sonnenuhr Spatlese I sold in another life for $19.99 a bottle. That's an all time value. It's 20 years later and I still think about that wine and people still bring it up with me. That is how this wine will be. Values like this don't come around too often.

The wine is so intense and has the longest finish on an inexpensive Riesling since I don't know when. It never ends. This wine has cling! Like a kitten to its mama this thing never leaves your palate completely.

2013 Josef Walter Spatburgunder Centrgrafenberg "J" - $51.99

($199.96 4-Pack) (*Including tariff of $5.64) 

2019 Josef Walter Riesling Centgrafenberg - $30.99 ($115.96 4-pack)  (*Including tariff of $2.74)